I always seem to have leftover cooked chicken in the refrigerator. Not a problem, because I have about a bazillion and a half ways to use it up.
I see myself as somewhat of an expert as using up leftovers. I hate waste.
I read recently that about 1.9 million tonnes of food is wasted every year in the UK.
That's pretty disgraceful when you consider that there are roughly 785 million people in the world suffering from malnourishment at any given time. If you have three squares a day count yourself lucky!
This is a recipe I adapted to use up some leftover cooked chicken and some tortillas that I had leftover from the crispy tortilla eggs I cooked the other day.
The original recipe was for BBQ Chicken & Cheese Nachos which I found here.
Its basically pretty similar except that I used a bit of chipotle chili paste in the chicken mixture and I didn't use tortilla chips.
Instead I toasted the leftover tortillas (brush with a tiny bit of oil) over the open gas flame of my stove. If you have never done this, you really need to try it.
Its a real game changer!
They turn out lovely . . . . crisp almost charred edges . . . crisp bubbled bits covering the top. They just taste magnificent!
So anyways, I gas charred my tortillas and then I topped them with the chicken mixture . . .
Which is basically a mixture of leftover shredded cooked/rotisserie chicken, BBQ sauce and the chipotle chili paste.
Could not seriously be any easier.
Just pile that mixture on top of your toasted tortillas and then scatter some grated cheese over the top. You can use any kind of cheese you want.
I used a medium cheddar, but Jack would be good as well, or even a spicy Mexican cheese blend. YUM!
I just used what I had, which was cheddar. We always have that in the house. When I first moved over here I used to go to the Market in town and buy cheese ends/crumbles.
The guy at the cheese stall used to sell them by the bag full. They were really cheap and great for things like this, or mac and cheese. You never really knew what kind of cheese they were, but they always tasted fab.
So anyways, you just bang these into a moderate oven and bake them until the cheese is all melted and they are heated through . . .
Take them out of the oven and drizzle them with a bit more BBQ sauce. (I used Jack Daniels because that is what I had, just use your favourite kind.)
Scatter on some spring onions and serve . . . oh boy, these are really yummy nummy! You could serve a salad, or coleslaw on the side. Coleslaw is actually excellent with these. You can find my recipe for Creamy Coleslaw here.
Yield: 4
BBQ Chicken Tostadas
prep time: cook time: total time:
I hate to say it again, but these are quick, easy and yes, delicious. A great way to use up some leftover cooked chicken or part of a Rotisserie bird!
ingredients:
- 8 (6-inch) corn tortillas
- a bit of oil
- 375g cooked chicken shredded (3 cups)
- 370g your favourite BBQ sauce (1 1/2 cups)
- 2 tsp chipotle Chili paste
- 245g grated medium cheddar or Jack cheese (2 cups)
- 3 spring onions, trimmed and finely sliced
instructions:
- First you want to crisp up your tortillas. Brush each tortilla lightly with some olive oil and then toast them over an open flame for about 30 seconds per side until crisp and lightly charred. Alternatively you can pop them into a hot oven (220*C/425*F/ gas mark 7) for 5 minutes, flip and bake for 5 more minutes until crisp.
- Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4. Have ready several baking sheets. Lay your tortillas out in a single layer on the baking sheets.
- Shred the chicken into a bowl. Stir in 245g (1 cup) of the BBQ sauce and the Chipotle chili paste. Mix well together and then divide it between the toasted tortillas evenly. I like to keep it a bit rough so you get lots of crags and crannies.
- Divide the cheese evenly amongst the chicken topped tortillas. scattering it over the top of each. (A small handful or about 30g/ 1/4 cup)
- Bake in the heated oven for 8 to 10 minutes, just until the cheese has melted. Remove from the oven. Drizzle the remaining BBQ sauce over top and sprinkle with the spring onions to serve.
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Oh boy, but these went down a real treat! I think we have found a whole new favourite thing around here! Nom Nom Nom!
One meat my husband really loves is Pork Chops. He loves nothing better. Cooking pork chops can be a bit tricky I find. There is an optimum length of time to cook them and it varies from chop to chop, depending on the type and the thickness of the chop.
In the old days people were really afraid of under-cooked pork and so had a tendency to way overcook their pork. My poor mum used to feed us chops that were so overcooked, you needed a ton of gravy or applesauce just to make them edible. Bless her . . . she meant well and had only our safety in mind. Everyone had the same fears with pork and overcooked their meat. It wasn't just her.
One thing which helps with the tenderness of chops is to brine them prior to cooking. This is a technique that I have only discovered in recent years and I have to say that it really makes a huge difference! My chops were never dry anyways, but now they are even better!
Its amazing what the magic solution of cold water, salt and sugar and an hour of time can do!
For this recipe today you will want bone in rib loin chops that are at least 1 1/2 inches thick. The reason you want them this thick is that you will be stuffing them . . .
I don't think you can get much tastier than a stuffed pork chop!
The stuffing for these is a really simple one . . . using simple ingredients. Butter softened onion and celery, with a mix of herbs . . . thyme, parsley, sage and a bit of garlic . . . some salt and pepper . . .
Mixed with some white bread crumbs and some cream to moisten everything and get it to stick together. I also add some chopped raisins for a hint of sweetness, but you can leave them out if you wish, or replace them with chopped apple, or dried apricots, or even dried cranberries. All work well.
You will want to cut a deep pocket in the brined chops. I make only a tiny incision on the fatty edge, and then move the knife around inside to carve a pocket . . . carefully. You want a sharp knife and you don't want too large of an opening. Too large and you run the risk of your stuffing bursting out during cooking.
You want all that tastiness to stay inside, which is why you want only a tiny opening on the edge. I recommend no larger than you index finger. It is quite doable, trust me on this.
Once you have the pocket cut you can stuff the chops. I pop it in through the opening and then massage it around from the outside of the chop so that it fills the whole pocket. Do take care not to let the stuffing get too close to the opening and press it well shut when you are done. You could of course close with toothpicks, but its really not necessary and it actually makes them harder to brown if you do.
Once they are stuffed you simply brown them on both sides, pop them into a baking dish and then finish them off in a hot oven. Easy peasy.
Yield: 4
Stuffed Brined Pork Chops
prep time: 1 hourcook time: 40 minstotal time: 1 hours and 40 mins
You will need thick, bone in pork chops for these (at least 1 1/2 inches thick). They are brined first for an hour prior to stuffing, browning and baking. Let assure you that all the fuss is worth it. Succulent, tender and delicious! Note you will need to brine the chops for one hour prior to starting.
ingredients:
- 1/5 litres of cold water (1 1/2 quarts)
- 3 TBS kosher or sea salt
- 3 TBS granulated sugar
- 4 bone-in rib loin chops, 1 1/2 inches thick
- (12 ounces each)
- 3 TBS butter
- 1 medium onion, peeled and minced
- 1 stalk celery, trimmed and minced
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 TBS dried parsley
- 1/2 tsp each dried thyme and sage
- 1 clove garlic, peeled and minced
- 2 sliced sandwich bread, crusts trimmed and cut
- into small cubes
- 4 TBS raisins, chopped (optional)
- 2 TBS heavy cream
- 1/8 tsp black pepper
- 1 TBS vegetable oil
instructions:
- Whisk together the cold water with the salt and sugar until both the salt and sugar dissolve. Place the chops into the mixture, making sure they are completely submerged. Leave for 1 hour. At the end of that time, remove them from the water and pat dry.
- To make the stuffing, melt the butter in a skillet over medium heat. Add the celery and onion. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables have softened. Add the garlic and herbs. Cook for a further half a minute or so until fragrant. Transfer to a bowl and toss together with the bread cubes and chopped raisins. Season with some salt and black pepper. Add the cream and mash well together until you have a fairly solid mass that you can handle easily without it crumbling too much.
- Take each chop and cut a pocket into each. Use a very sharp knife and just using the tip, puncture the chop on the fat edge, making a small opening, and then by carefully manoeuvring the tip of the knife, cut a pocket inside the chop without enlarging the cut on the edge, or poking through the surface of the chop. (This will help to make sure that the stuffing stays inside when the chops are cooking.)
- Preheat the oven to 230*C/450*F. gas mark 7. Have ready a shallow baking dish large enough to hold all four chops.
- Stuff each chop with 1/4 of the stuffing, massaging the chop on the outsides to work it through to fill the pocket entirely. (I try to keep it at least 1/3 of an inch away from the pocket incision.) Season your chops on both sides.
- Heat the vegetable oil in the skillet and brown the chops on both sides, about 3 minutes or so per side. Transfer the browned chops to the baking dish.
- Bake the chops in the preheated oven for about 20 minutes, or until the juices run clear. Remove from the oven and tent for about 5 to 10 minutes with some aluminium foil.
- Serve hot with your favourite sides.
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These really are very good. Tender and delicious . . . succulent. I guarantee your family will love them. I served them with mashed potatoes, some gravy, a bit of cauliflower cheese that I had leftover from another day and some frozen peas. Todd was in pork chop heaven! Bon Appetit!
This tasty Vegetarian Pie is actually something I baked way back in December. I can't believe it has taken until now for me to share it with you! My oven has been on the fritz again, and so I have been somewhat limited in what I can cook until it is fixed. This time it is the thermostat.
When I was raising my family in Canada, several times a year we would pop across the border into the US for some shopping. Of course that always involved a trip to a grocery store, and we would bring back a couple of large turkeys.
They were relatively inexpensive, and with five children, they made great sense economically. I always had lots of
things that I could do with a turkey and it's leftovers aside from roasting them.
Soups, casseroles, sandwiches . . . there was no end to my creativity. Of course with just two of us now in our home, it doesn't make a lot of sense to buy a whole turkey other than during the holidays. We just wouldn't get through it fast enough and over here, roast turkey's are really expensive!
You can get turkey breasts without the bone to roast relatively cheaply however, and turkey fillets, so I often avail myself of them and will cook one for us to use in sandwiches and casseroles. This recipe is usually how I roast it. It turns out perfect every time.
And we always get about 3 meals from it. One on the day, at least one casserole and then sandwiches. I don't like to buy the deli turkey here. It never seems quite right to me. I prefer to roast one of these turkey breasts and then use the meat from that.
At least I know what I am getting, and it's not over the top expensive like most sliced deli turkey meat is.
Sometimes I will do us hot turkey sandwiches, with gravy . . .
Sometimes a pot pie will show up on the dinner table . . .
This week I did a Turkey & Broccoli Casserole . . .
Turkey and broccoli are great flavour partners. Actually broccoli goes well with any kind of poultry, and fish for that matter. Actually, now that I think about it, broccoli is one of those vegetables that goes well with everything! (Beef and broccoli, num num!)
This is a really simple casserole which requires no tinned soup, nor the making of a cream sauce. It could not be easier.
You simply blanch your broccoli (broken into florets, and the stem peeled and cubed, waste not want not) and then layer it with some softened onion and the turkey in a baking dish. (season it all lightly)
Then you whisk together some sour cream and some stock and pour it over everything . . .
Crisp bread crumbs, seasoned and then mixed with some cheddar cheese get sprinkled on top . . .
And then the whole thing gets baked in the oven until the casserole is bubbling and everything is well heated through.
As they say, "Easy Peasy, Lemon Squeasy!" You really can't get much better than this. Its fabulously tasty!
Yield: 4
Turkey & Broccoli Casserole
A deliciously different way to use leftover cooked turkey. Simple ingredients put together in a beautiful way without the use of anything processed. You don't get much better than this.
ingredients:
- 400g of broccoli florets, broken (a large crown)
- 2 TBS butter, divided
- 1 medium onion, peeled and thinly sliced
- 350g of cooked turkey breast, cubed (about 3 cups)
- 100g sour cream (scant cup)
- 200ml of chicken stock (7 fluid ounces)
- 25g of fresh bread crumbs, coarse (1 ounce)
- pinch of garlic powder and mixed herbs
- 60g of grated strong cheddar cheese (1/2 cup)
instructions:
- First make the crumb topping. Melt 1 TBS butter in a skillet, add the breadcrumbs. Season lightly with salt and pepper. Stir in a pinch of garlic powder and the mixed herbs. Cook, stirring until they crisp up a bit. Cool and then stir in the grated cheese. Set aside.
- Preheat the oven to 200*C/400*F/ gas mark 6. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to the boil. Add the broccoli and then cook until just crispy tender. Drain well and rinse in cold water to prevent cooking further. Drain again.
- Melt 1 TBS of the butter in a skillet and add the onion. Cook, stirring over medium heat until the onion has softened without colouring. Set aside.
- Layer the broccoli, turkey, and onion in an oven proof dish. Season lightly with some salt and pepper. Mix together the sour cream and stock. Pour this over all. Sprinkle the cheesy crumbs over top of the casserole dish. Place onto a baking sheet and then bake in the heated oven until golden brown and bubbling, 20 to 25 minutes. Serve hot.
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You can serve it with rice, or baked potatoes, mashed potatoes or as I did the other day some roast sweet potatoes. I just wash up some unpeeled sweet potatoes, prick them and roast them in a hot oven until soft. If you cut off one end, they just slip out of the skins very easily and they taste wonderful just as they are! This makes a great weeknight supper that everyone loves! Bon Appetit!
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